Improvement in cake-baskets, fruit-stands



2 Sheefis-Sheet 1.

0 & d

& El IS L Mu No. 214.870. Patented April 29, 1879 INVBNTOR M fig WITNESSES /4 Fe. 253M747" ATTORNEYS.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W. 0. BEATTIE. I Cake-Basket,- Fruit-Stand, 8L0.

(No. 214,870. Patented April 29,1879.

INVENTOR: fii

ATTORNEY;

WITNESSES 6. M

N. PETERS. rHG O-LHHOGRAPHER. wAsHmaToM D c UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM G. BEATTLE, OF TAUNTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO REED & BARTON, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAKE-BASKETS, FRUIT-STANDS, 8eC.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 214,870, dated April 29, 1879; application filed March 24, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. BEATTIE, of Taunton, in the county of Bristol-and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cake-Baskets, Fruit- Stands, Gard-Receivers, &c. and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation with the handle and a part of the rim broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken diagonally to the handle; Fig. 3, a detail, in section, showing the means for holding the panel or bottom. Fig. 4 is a partial plan view.

The invention has reference to certain improvem ents in cake-baskets, fruit-stands, cardreceivers, and other analogous pieces of tableware, whether plated or solid.

The improvement consists, mainly, in forming the bottom of such basket, dish, or stand in the shape of a separate panel, and securing it, without soldering, to the rim. By this means a great variety of materials, such as glass, porcelain, china, hard metal, 800., can be utilized, the ornamentation is rendered easier and more varied, and the bottom is preserved against being bent or nicked, as hereinafter fully described.

In the drawings is shown a piece of ware which may be either a fruit-stand, cake-basket, card-receiver, or analogous article, in which A is a detachable panel, forming the bottom of the basket, dish, or stand, and B is the metal rim. This bottom panel may be made of glass, china, porcelain, enameled Wood, hard metal, or any other material. This panel is seated in a sunken seat formed by the bottom flange, a, of the rim, in which seat it is secured by a removable ring, 0, fitting over the margin of the panel at the top, which ring has (see Fig. 3) four screw-stems, c, (more or less,) projecting downwardly through holes in the rim, so as to receive the nuts or ornamental milled knobs d. This mode of securing the panel may, however, be varied as, for instance, a flange on the rim may be turned down over the top edge of the panel by spinning, or points may be bent 'over to secure the same, and I therefore do not limit myself to any particular method of securing the separate panel.

By this novel arrangement of a panel, bottom, or center of glass, china, or other suitable material, I am enabled to produce a greater variety of useful and ornamental articles than by the ordinary methods. Thus we may have a richly cut or engraved glass panel for an expensive fruit-dish, or a neat pressed-glass design for a cheaper but showy article, or a decorated china or porcelain panel, by which we could combine the effect of color with silver very effectively, and which it would be impossible to do in the ordinary manner. An enameled wooden or slate panel may also be used, and a variety of other combinations too numerous to mention.

This invention not only gives greater scope for variety in design of ornamentation and combination of materials and colors, which are so desirable for effect, but permits the result to be attained at a much less eXpenseas, for instance, if an article of this kind is to be ornamented it must be done by hand, for, if done with a die, both the die and bed-piece have to be fitted to the particular shape of the bottom, and will answer for no other shape, even if the variation is slight. The figure or design, too, must be limited to such a pattern as will admit the bed-plate under it, so that it is necessarily sectional, and not continuous. By my invention the figure can be made so as to cover, if necessary, the whole surface, and can be put on a flat piece of metal (when metal is used) at one blow after the bottom panel is all burnished and finished, thus making a much neater and cheaper article.

By the ordinary process it has not been practical to make a fruit dish or basket with a flat bottom, (though it is often desirable to do so,) for the reason that the bottom, if made of white metal,wil1, when supported at the rim, settle in the middle, making a concave instead of a flat surface inside, and if supported in the center by a column or pillar the whole center will soon become forced up by the Weight of the dish and its contents, so as to form a convex instead of a flat surface.

We are aware that the permanent flat metal bottom can be secured by making the whole article of hard metal, but that increases the cost of the ware to such an extent as to not be able to compete with the arrangement herein described in price.

By my method a piece of hard metal could be used for the panel or center, and would answer the same purpose, so far as utility is concerned, as if the whole were made of hard metal, and at from one-half to two-thirds the expense. 7

The ornamentation could be still further varied by enameling a metal panel and inserting it in the same way, which could not be done if the dish were made in the ordinary way, as the heat required for the enamel would injure the white metal and blister the silver.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is- 1. A metal cake-basket or analogous article having a removable center or panel, forming the bottom thereof, and constructed of other material than the rim, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. In a metal cake-basket or analogous article, the combination of the metallic rim and a bottom panel made in a separate piece and ornamented before being inserted, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. A metal cake-basket or analogous article having a bottom panel or center manufactured in a separate piece and applied to the ring, substantially as herein described.

4. The combination, with the rim and the detachable bottom panel of a cake-basket or analogous article, ofa fastening-ring adapted to clamp and secure the panel in place by means of screws or otherwise, substantially as described.

WILLIAM G. BEATTIE.

Witnesses THEO. P. HALL, F. E. FIsKE. 

